ikan News Blog

This post is part of a Spotlight series covering our contest winners for ikan’s “Where’s the Missing Piece” short film contest for 2011. We will be covering 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the coming weeks so stay tuned and share the experience.

Cool dudes Samuel Thomas and Louis Hunter of Hunter Thomas Creative, hailing from Dallas, Tx, were our first place winners this year for the “Where’s the Missing Piece” short film contest. Since they lived so close, we decided that it might be more worthwhile for them to come down for a visit and tour of the facility while we present their gear and winning plaque to them.

Accepting the invitation, they drove down last week and we had a blast talking and touring the ikan facility. Afterward, I decided to jump on the opportunity for an interview for some personal background and Director/Producer commentary on the winning film.

This week, we’ll be covering their background and the experiences that helped shape who they are today. I hope you enjoy.

ikan Short Film Contest 2011

1^st place – “Private i(kan)” – Hunter Thomas Creative

Out of a handful of film students at University of North Texas, this duo emerged with their talents intact, some newfound comradery, and friends with like-minded practicality. Their friendship strong after their senior thesis film—written, directed, and produced by Samuel and Louis themselves—they split paths after graduation; one to work in video news production (Louis) and move to Houston, then Waco; meanwhile Samuel tried corporate America—only to become disillusioned with his career choices and office environments (I don’t blame him). Pass through a couple of years of living on life’s terms and your dreams begin to scream your name again.

PS. For those of you who haven’t gone to film school, there are a variety of opinions on the experience—but, frankly, most of them agree on these things:

1)      You walk away with a piece of paper that just might save your ass when your clueless about life and unemployed

2)      If you were smart (or lucky) you exploited your school’s film cage and got as much hands on experience as possible.

3)      You make a couple of connections that will launch you into your new life in the film and video industry.

The years that follow after schooling really allow us some space to spread wings and flex muscles. For better or worse, these are the years to flounder–working different angles, trying to figure out how best to sell yourself and your skills. Here, I think, is when it pays to break your back, bustin’ ass, applying yourself to things you thought you believed in—in the adage of “it takes what it takes” to start achieving your dream(s). “There was a year there where I was teaching during the day and editing 5-6 hours a night,” Samuel mentioned to me in our interview. “It just went from there…” With that tireless ethic, his consistently-improving video work landed him a full time editor gig, allowing him to break free from the bonds of teaching post-pubescent high schoolers; with his editing now more polished, he supported his family for the next three years before he broke free completely and started living as a freelancer.

Believers in the “you learn more from your failures than successes,” Samuel and Louis found it was time to finally flex their collective muscles when Louis move to Waco—the words “Am I close enough?” were literally all it took to propel them into business together once more, this time as Hunter Thomas Creative.

Since then, their focus has been to develop a well rounded production company that is reputable through the region and beyond. At least, that’s the goal. “We want to do work that fuels us creatively,” Louis mentioned. What they really want is to hit you in the heart and gut with some good narrative work. So far, they plan to do just that; with both a webseries and feature in development, they may be well on their way.

In the same token, however, Samuel and Louis don’t mind considering straddling both realms—finding clients and showing product isn’t below them, especially if it helps to further fund their own content (and maybe pick up some distribution or gear along the way).

To be fair, it’s not like these guys are looking to be “Scorcese [or] Tarantino.“ Louis elaborated on this point when we were discussing influences. “I wanted to be ‘The Kids in the Hall.’ I just wanted to write sketch comedy,” he continued. “…That’s just my attention span.” I imagine his training with the cut-the-crap mentality involved in daily news casts definitely lends its hand to his quick humor and workflow.

Lately, though, the Creative feels more inclined to write their blackish humor into ideas for dramas and suspense/thrillers. As diversifying goes, however, they still recognize that their productions have to balance between “the art of it and the business of it.” As Samuel put it when we were talking about the future: “what’s going to sell?” Louis agreed. “It’s been [unashamedly] our biggest stumbling block…whatever we do we want to monetize. It’s a noble effort to go out and do something–and do it well—but if there’s no money at hand…what are we doing?”

It’s clear these gents have a good business sense about themselves; collective story boarding, no ego, argument only for the betterment of the project–“we’re always pushing ourselves to do better, Samuel commented. “…[Louis] pushing me to think about it more; I, in turn, push him to think about it more; whichever idea wins the fight, it’s all about the story.”

We’ll be covering Hunter Thomas Creative more next week, where we’ll do a Creator’s commentary on “Private i(kan).”

In the meantime, you can also go connect with Samuel via twitter @szpt, check out his Youtube/Vimeo or you can check out his calling card

Some months ago the ikan brand had a chance to travel to Nigeria, with Anna Schwaber and Director Chris Cloyd for his documentary entitled the “Lady Madonna Project,” for the Western African Development Support Organization (WADSO). Initally, Anna piqued my interest by sending this, written by Chris:

“We will be filming a documentary piece on the dedication of the Madonna Hospital that WADSO helped fund and complete. The story will explore the culture and the problems facing the town of Umuahia particularly in healthcare or the lack thereof while also staying with the Bishop of the Diocese. Working so closely with the community is going to mean great access and insight to people and stories. Here is the link to the IndieGoGo project with all the information thus far: http://www.indiegogo.com/Lady-Madonna.”

 Chris has written an excellent description of The Lady Madonna Project on his SUCCESSFUL IndieGoGo page. I highly recommend going and reading it.

With that in mind and details clarified, Anna and I spoke more regarding the production and their needs based on the kind of shooting they’d be doing–wide open shots, lots of interviews, sometimes in very low lighting, with limited space while traveling light. I couldn’t help but recommend the iLED312 kit and a production slate to make sure they could sync audio in the field. They were game. Here’s a video they were able to throw together for us. Personally, I love the raw feel of the video.

http://vimeo.com/33565691

The beginning reminds me of the take away shows on la blogotheque.

After they wrapped shooting, they provided me with some text on the ikan gear they used and a video that showcases not only the gear but also the culture of people surrounding them.What I think matters even more here, however, is the education and experience that came with trying to document such a culture. In an interview I had with Chris upon their return to the States, I really got a better idea of the issues the town is facing and what they saw:

“Religion plays a huge part in the community. It is the telephone tree, the town hall, and the safe harbor in a storm. Though not everyone treated at the clinics is religious, someone in their family got the word through religious circles. It is hard actually to imagine Nigeria without the Church. Like family, religion is a bedrock in Nigeria in a way it hasn’t been for some time in developed nations. The Church acts as a social buttress in many ways, picking up the slack where government fails the people. It is able to pool resources and deliver them in a targeted way to the community that the corruption in government would never allow.

Alcohol consumption didn’t seem any more or less prevalent than in any other society. Due to the strong familial bonds and desire to help ones family, there was far less evidence of homelessness. That said, the utter poverty of those in the bush and what in Nigeria would pass for a dwelling could not be considered much better than Skid Row.

Corruption in Nigeria, like many places around the world, is a daily course of business. The elections were held while we were there and people were far less concerned with issues of healthcare, infrastructure, or the economy as they were about having their votes actually counted. Our first experience with this system came on the second day. At the local airport in the capital, Abuja, we were informed that we had too many bags and would have to pay an additional fee if we wanted to make our flight. Sounds a lot like the States, right? Well this bag fee came out to the nice round price of $1000. That was a bit of a shocker. Granted, we all did have the international limit of bags, half of which were stuffed to the gills with various medical supplies, but even by American standards, that was pretty steep. So we pooled our money together, handed it to Fr. Francis, and our intrepid guide went to do our bartering. Obviously that price was too high, but it wasn’t the airline, it was the cost of the additional fuel. It couldn’t cost that much for the additional fuel, but we were Americans and could afford to pay. It went back and forth like that for some time. There was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, but when all was said and done, we paid a cool $350. I don’t think the good Father offered them absolution for their kindness, but I’m pretty sure things would have turned out differently had he not been in the Clergy. I’m also pretty sure that the extra money would have gone straight into the pockets of the baggage men he negotiated with.

The chiefdom is in many ways like the city council. Chiefs are people with a position of honor, whose obligation as a chief is to watch after and protect the community. It is less of a spiritual designation as it is a political one. Chiefs settle disputes in the local community, care for the sick, and allocate village resources. There are several chiefs in any given community, but like a mayor, there is one chief or “Eze” whose say carried more weight. It is said that to become a chief one must have killed a lion. This is to say the the person receiving the honor must have done something big for the community. We were extended this honor because of our commitment to the Madonna Hospital and our journey across the ocean, although our distinction is probably more akin to having been given the key to the city.

Shamanism is present in Nigeria, though less as a reaction to the heavy Christian presence in the South as much as it is an alternative for those with nowhere else to turn. Often those without the means to see a government doctor will turn to shaman or witch doctors to treat that which ails them. This of course merely prolongs treatment leading to complications down the road that are much more difficult to diagnose. The medications that are needed so desperately in Nigeria are so common in developed nations that it would be laughable if the actual conditions weren’t so dire. The medical supply room at one of the best bush hospitals was one half full shelf that any CVS would put to shame. With so many people barely able to put food on the table, it is no surprise that some would turn to the more economical, if less effective, route of spiritual healing.”

Here is their testimonial of the ikan iLED 312 kit:

“The compact LED 312 kit was really the key ingredient for shooting on location in Umuahia, Nigeria for the Lady Madonna project. Sometimes the only light that was present or even available indoors was the light we provided. The power situation being unreliable, this unit really provided just the barebones to get some compelling content we’d otherwise been without. It’s compact size travels well with batteries that hold enough charge to get us through a good day’s worth of filming. It’s ability to mount with the swivel-head either directly on the hot-shoe of my Canon 7D or to a light-stand, made it versatile and perfect for all run-and-gun lighting demands. An absolute documentary filmmaking essential. Thanks iKan!”

Our short film competition really brought in some class A talent this year, so I’d like to showcase each of our winners and their place in the industry, including what they do and how they worked to win our celebrity judges over by being showered with mad rubric points.

Our Honorable Mention, Caroline Pires, was a killer contender–and with good reason. Her latest work as a compositor has been on Martin Scorcese’s “Hugo” and has really been a pleasure to speak with. It’s been a while since I hosted an informal interview here on the blog; I hope, however, we give you a taste of the caliber of talent in our multi-tiered industry, as well as expose the creativity and life of a compositor and emerging director. Her self-written bio on vimeo is pretty complete, but is she human?

Here’s her submission again, for record:

http://vimeo.com/28595834

Let’s begin.

IKAN: Welcome Caroline! Who are you professionally?

Caroline Pires: I’m a Compositor for feature films and commercials. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to alternate between compositing and directing.

IK: What’s the experience of working on a major feature like; what do you take away from working on them?

CP: Working on major blockbusters is always a great learning experience because you get to work with the best people in the industry. Big names attract talent. What you take away from it in the end is some good material for your showreel, a handful of new friends from all over the world, an extra kilo and bags under your eyes from days of not sleeping before the final delivery!

IK: Do you prefer working as an independent or under a company with a team working on something collectively?

CP: That really depends on the company and the project. I really enjoy freelancing and doing commercial work because it’s generally more creative, has a faster turnover and usually I get to do more than just comp. Big companies can have many strict rules about what you can and can’t do.

IK: What work are you most proud of and why?

CP: I guess the work I’m most proud of is:

1. The first cleanup shot I ever did at Framestore where Angelina Jolie was dangling from a train wreck and her hair was tangled in the safety wire. That same wire was also going over her leather jacket while she was moving her arm underneath it. It’s still one of the hardest cleanups I have ever done!
2. Some of the shots I did for “Prince of Persia”. The guys at Nvizible were really supportive and with their help I think I managed to pull off some nice shots for a junior compositor.
3. Definitely some of the work I’ve just done on “Hugo” for Pixomondo. I got some of my first big shots and 3 of them are in the latest trailer. My favorite is a lock off with Hugo behind the station windows, you can see it around  00:53 secs. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to put any of that work on my showreel yet… only when the DVD is released (industry rules).

IK: What aspects of film have your attention most these days? What is your biggest focus right now?

CP: Even though I love visual effects, I’m trying to transition into directing and supervising vfx on smaller shoots. Directing gives you so much more creative freedom. The VFX Supervision is so I can get a break from the long hours in front of a computer! Stop looking like a vampire and maybe get back some of my original skin colour.

IK: Who are you in real life? Do you even have free time? (ah, you may, considering your kinect adventures I found online). Hobbies?

CP: I’m a workaholic in real life, but trust me, there are worst people out there and I’ve met them! For the past 9 months, since I started Hugo, and decided to make 3 short films while I was on that project, I didn’t have much time for myself or any of my old friends. I did meet lots of other crazy people that don’t believe in free time, like Eben Bolter, Franz Brandstaetter and Mark Pinheiro (these people don’t sleep), who joined me in my cinematic adventures. When I do have free time I like going out to dinner with my friends, attending some good house parties and travelling!

IK: So you’re indeed human…which brings up my next q–I was poking around your youtube and found some German alternative music. What’s up with this?

CP: Ha! I love Minimal Tech. I did my Masters degree in Barcelona and a lot of my friends are techno DJ’s there. I guess they gave me that bug but I’ve always liked electronic music. I like anything that’s creative and can be done with computers.

IK: What expectations did you have for yourself entering our short film competition? What challenges arose on set?

CP: Well when we entered the competition we wanted to win some lights and an HD monitor! That’s how I convinced everyone to work for free! I’m planning on doing a low budget feature next year and I could really do with some lights, so the aim was to win them… but I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved in such little time and with a non- existing budget. It was my first writer / director experience and it was fun!

The major challenge we had was Mark not being able to show up for the shoot one evening so we had to change the script last minute. The other one was when I was operating the camera and I didn’t get the focus right on one of the shots… still learning there!

IK: Did you use any ikan gear on your set? If so, how? What did you think of it?

CP: We wish we could have used the iKan gear. Unfortunately we don’t own any of it (that’s why we entered the competition)! It would have been great to have an external monitor (for focusing on wider shots and the lights). We did manage to scrounge some lights from a friend.

IK: Your showreel on Vimeo is super cool. However, your Kinect Adventures makes you two look like animals, potentially even cooler. What do you see in the future for yourself in the DSLR film jungle, and where is it going from your perspective in animation and composition technologies?

CP: My next showreel is going to be EPIC! LOL!

IK: No…really.

CP: I really enjoy DSLR filmmaking and plan on doing more of it. The short I’m currently trying to finish, Twisted Roads, was all shot on a canon 60d and on a budget of around £400. Shooting on DSLR has many limitations because of the H264 compression codec and rolling shutter problems. You can’t shoot green screens on it and your image will never be as sharp as one that was shot in RAW format. Compressed footage also means less latitude when it come to grading. These limitations are crippling when it comes to basic visual effects, so unless we get DSLR’s shooting RAW and with faster write speeds, there is no future for dslr cinema in the visual effects industry. Even when using Magic Lantern to up the bit rate and 5D2RGB to “decompress” the footage, I still find the results are slightly disappointing. On the other hand, DSLR filmmaking enables great scripts (with no vfx) to get made on a low budget–and has started an indie revolution.

I have learnt so much about DSLR cinema that I plan on putting up a couple of tutorials online and giving back to the online community that educated me on this subject. The big plan though is to make a low budget feature starting mid-next year.

I have started the pre-production already and hopefully the kickstarter campaign will be up and running by May 2012. A lot of the inspiration for the campaign comes from the way Ryan Koo raised money to make his first feature. Originally we had planned to shoot it on DSLRs but a friend of mine just bought a Scarlet so I believe we’ll be shooting on that now. Exciting times!

Thanks, Caroline! You can find her showreel and blog on her website www.carolinepires.co.uk or follow her updates on twitter via @carolinevfx.

Next week we’ll have our 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place winners, so expect a treat!

**UPDATE:

Coincidentally, this weekend on the Current Channel (you know, the one started by Al Gore, with a focus on documentaries) “The Fog of War” by Errol Morris came on. If you haven’t seen it, the doc reconstructs the Vietnam War through the eyes of Robert McNamara–the so-called “architect” of the war itself. In the interview, you’ll notice, Morris uses what we now know as the Interrotron method–and it really makes the interview with McNamara hit home. Thus Ikan’s idea to bring to you our own flavor–the P2P Teleprompter series. Not only good for basic style interviews and unique setups, it’s a powerful method for integrating interview-style journalism with Documentary footage.

Here’s an example of the p2p system in action in “The Fog of War.” If you’re interested in learning more, check out our p2p product website or watch out product video. DV.com also posted some data about our take on Morris’ Interrotron.

**********

Two weeks ago we got the chance to meet up with the guys from DEIDOX–Dave Mahanes, Producer & Brent Gudgel, Director. They’ve recently relocated from Pasadena, CA to Austin and wanted to swing by to discuss their next interview-style project, with plans to shoot on two Sony F3 cameras. We suggested they try our underrepresented P2P system, based off the PT4100 Teleprompter we manufacture. If you haven’t seen the output of that puppy, it’s definitely worth checking out.

So we packed them up in their SUV and sent them on their way to their shooting location in Dallas, about 5 years hours (gotta catch up on that sleep) from here in H-town. They were kind enough to give us their regards and some testimonial about the p2p41:

“Even based on our first day using the person to person setup, I’d have to say it was the coolest interview I’ve done in a long time. We took the rig with us on a location shoot in a chapel in the countryside. The first time setting it up (a “practice” run to make sure we could get it to work) was a bit involved, but the second setup (when it really mattered) went super smooth. 20 minute setup. 10 minute teardown.

As a director I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get more authentic interviews from documentary subjects, and this was the first time I could try a person-to-person setup. The rig makes getting an authentic interview way easier than a more traditional setup. The interviewer can better connect to the interviewee in a fascinating type of hyper-reality interaction. Quite fun. In fact, our interview subject even told us afterwords that the person-to-person setup was now his favorite way to do an interview. All that to say, I love it and can’t wait to use it again.

The support team at Ikan are fantastic and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to work with their equipment. They have a true desire to help independent filmmakers produce the best films.  Unfortunately, this is a rarity in the industry.”  -Brent Gudgel, Director

One more thing. it is with misfortune that I am unable to insert the photos in this post–they will be added as soon as the final kinks in our wordpress are ironed out. Once that happens, I’ll have you some photos.

For updates on DEIDOX,  follow their twitter (@deidox), visit the website, or  check out their vimeo for new videos. You can also follow Brent Gudgel directly via @brentgudgel.

Ikan is proud to announce the winners of the 2011 ikan short film competition “Where’s the Missing Piece?” The 2011 competition marks ikan’s third year of bringing up-and-coming creative groups to the public, to compete for prize packages totaling $17,000 in gear. Judged by acclaimed industry leaders, each entry was scored on its artistic & technical merits, along with the promotion of the ikan brand and adherence to this year’s theme: “Where’s the Missing Piece?”

ikan had 22 participants from all parts of the world enter the competition. Only three, however, walk away with the winnings. After the first round, ten lucky finalists were left and progressed to our celebrity judges panel. This year Jared Abrams (WideOpenCamera); Mitch Aunger (Planet5D); Dave Helmly, Mike Kanfer, Colin Smith and Karl Soule of Adobe systems, Inc;  Steve Roche (Digital Juice); and Tony Reale (NextWaveDV).Mel House and Ryan Koo (No Film School) were all asked to sit on the panel

So, without further ado, I present you the 2011 ikan short film contest winners:

1. 1^st Place (prize of $10,000 worth of ikan products) goes to Private i(kan) by Samuel Z. P. Thomas.
   http://vimeo.com/28627014
   Its imaginative blending of ikan products into a great take of the noir detective genre actually earned it a perfect score from one of the judges.
2. 2^nd place (prize of $5,000 worth of ikan products) goes to Blood, Sweat, Tears and ikan by Greenstorm Film.
   http://vimeo.com/28651106
   The action-packed “Search For the Missing Piece” captured the theme of this year’s competition with style and excitement.
3. 3^rd Place (prize of $2,000 worth of ikan products) goes to ikan, always with you created by Stephan Zammit.
   http://vimeo.com/28636540
   The composition and style of the piece made it stand out among all of the entries with its creative use of a green-screen and rural setting.

Ikan has also decided to present an Honorable Mention Award to Say I Can With ikan by Caroline Lopes Pires a.k.a. @carolinevfx.
http://vimeo.com/28595834
Shot on a “zero pound” budget (and entirely on the team’s free time) this entry reminds us that creativity doesn’t need a budget or time to rest. The difference in scores between Caroline’s and third place was so close, we decided to add an Honorable Mention award this year to bring attention to a deserving entry.

We at ikan applaud the winners and all participants and thank them for their creative efforts and time dedicated to their films. The work they have done is amazing and an inspiration to everyone. Our hats are off!

November is a funny time for many, as it marks the end of fall with the cooler weather rolling in with many of the first real snows. The impending winter means spending time indoors, seeking refuge from the cold and experiencing that slow-down and stillness to life, where leaving the bed is akin to blasphemy. For us in Houston, though, it’s really the first full month where we won’t see temperatures in the 90’s (finally). For ikan, it means we start looking forward to the spring releases for NAB. It’s a time for industry–scheduling production of new products and putting the final pieces together.

Today, there were several last-minute meetings with the software division where we finalized the features of new products. Last year @NABShow, we demoed a product suite concept designed to aid the production community’s workflow. Since all these apps work together (they talk), it has been a challenge to develop them concurrently; fortunately, we are finally nearing the release of the first of the suite! One key thing changed since then–based on customer feedback, we switched the priority of release from android apps to iOS apps. Over the next few months, you’ll notice several new apps rolling out. Since last week’s concept meeting, they’ve put the finishing touches on them–all i can say is WOW! They have really put some innovative usage and tools in the software –stuff I haven’t seen in any other apps like them in the market. I can’t wait for the other application to mature. We really think you’re going to like the way the pieces fit together (literally and figuratively)!

Ikan works hard about innovating new products and sometimes its easy for us to forget around here some of the things we have innovated in the last few years. We were the first to come out with a high quality 5.6 LCD with HDMI. at NAB 2009 (before the 5D MkII and D90 were released) we introduced the V5600 because we anticipated that HDMI would become an attractive alternative to SDI, that cameras were shrinking, and a HDMI LCD field monitor smaller than 7’  would be a great addition in the market place. Now every LCD company has a 5″ in their lineup. It’s hard to believe this monitor is 4 years old now and still is a favorite for many shooters.

Our ID500 light was the first high powered LED light to have a wireless remote control.  For the Event and ENG users the remote feature and battery power have given them truly mobile solutions. Event videographers can turn a light on an off from their camera position on one side of a ball room as needed. ENG crews can sit and wait for their air time and turn the light on and off without leaving their cameras. A solo shooter who acts as talent and camera operators can now adjust the light intensity while looking into their monitors.

Our EV2 Stealth was the first 15mm rod configuration developed for ENG shooters. We worked with Canon to help their customers as they migrate from traditional shoulder mount cameras ENG to more economical midsized cameras.

The Stealth was designed as a ENG rig–not a stripped down cinema shoulder rig–to better match the needs of news shooters. Its adaptability allows the user to see the eye piece in bright sun light. The adjustable shoulder pads allows for different users to tweak it for their comfort. Its Heavy duty shoulder mount is beefed up to withstand use 24/7. Replaceable pads give it a longer lifespan, while plenty of mounting points (for battery systems and accessories) allow it to conform to any work flow or requirements. We even designed mounting points for a traditional ENG VL14 style quick release to simplify run and gun demands of the ENG environment

One of our first products introduced in our first year of business PT-1000 pioneered the low-cost above the lens Teleprompters.

Once again several other teleprompter companies have a similar solution in their line up. This year we added a single handed adjustment riser to our PT3100 and PT4100 to make it easier to adjust for the different heights of cameras.

Simply turn the knob and adjust the height no tools or disassembly necessary. The next generation of teleprompters and software is under development and will also include several new and innovative features.

This year, ikan acquired the Cinemage monitor line to provide top tier LCD monitors adding additional choices for our customers. This acquisition also put new technologies and contacts in our reach. Soon you should see innovative new features and products as a result.

So this winter, keep your eye on ikan to see what new products are going to come from us here in Houston. I know some of the things we are planning will be new and innovative.  Just wait and see. To make it easier, check back here or follow us on Facebook or twitter to keep up with the latest news.